Love's Unwritten Law
by Luthien's-Dream
Summary: Remus loves Lily, but since he knows that James does too he can't let his feelings be known for fear of breaking their friendship. But will he be able to control his emotions and keep them hidden or will something just, spill? LERL LEJP
1. Keeping it a secret

_Disclaimer: These aren't my characters and the plot is based on JK's books. All the usual stuff._

Love's unwritten laws

Chapter 1: Can you keep a secret?

"This is great!" said Remus in hushed tones, "Look there's Slughorn in Dumbledore's office, wonder what he's done, and…"

"Quick put it away!" said Sirius as he saw on the map someone coming towards them. He waved his wand over the parchment and whispered 'Mischief managed' just as a girl came round the corner and entered the common room from the girl's dormitory.

"Hello Lily, "said Sirius snickering, "Going anywhere nice?" he laughed.

"Oh, ha ha. You know full well where I'm going. Thanks to you and your practical jokes I'll be going to detention for the next week!"

"Oh come on Lils, it was just a bit of fun!" James said.

"For you maybe, but having to scrub toilets, without magic, is not my idea of fun. And don't call me "Lils" my name is Lily!" she retorted and stormed off.

"I love it when she's angry." James grinned dreamily to his friends.

Remus watched Lily walking away, her hair swishing with every step…

"Hey, I have a great plan for revenge on Severus.

…catching the light so that it looked like spun gold…

"Hello, Remus, anyone in?" said Sirius waving his hand in front of Remus's face. Remus tore his eyes away from Lily.

"What?"

"I think you were on another planet there mate. Listen to this, James has an amazing plan…"

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

The marauders spent the rest of the Saturday afternoon looking at their newly created map. Watching the teachers as well as the students.

Noting that Lilly was still in the second floor toilets Sirius asked, "So, who are you taking to the dance then James?"

"Dunno, why did you ask?" he answered suspiciously

"Well, I know that you've had your eye on 'Lils' for a while. Just wondered when you were going to ask her."

"I'll ask her when I want to ask her. You can't just go blurting things like that out at any time."

"Yeah, but if you don't ask her soon someone else will. She's got herself a secret admirer or so I've heard. Someone sent her chocolates.

Remus blushed.

"Not that she ate them mind, thought they might have been poisoned with a love potion or something."

"They were not!" Remus blurted out. The other two looked at him.

"I mean, err, why would they be, because if someone was, umm, that desperate they wouldn't bother sending her flowers as well, I mean, I heard they sent her a bunch of flowers too, you see why would they do that if they were going to use a love potion on the chocolates?" he said rubbing the sweating palms of his hands together.

"You get some funny ideas." Sirius said cuffing him round the head.

"Anyway. I'll ask her next time we see her. Obviously without you two, you can disappear off whilst I ask her."

"Okay, but you may want to wait until the detentions are over." Remus commented.

"Why?"

"Because I don't think she's terribly pleased with you at the moment."

"Oh, right." He glanced at Remus, "Hey, Moony, are you okay? You look bit red. Are you ill?"

"Yeah, I think I'll just go and get some fresh air. See you later." Sirius picked himself up off the settee and hurried out of the common room. ………………………………………………………………………………………

When Lilly came out of detention she headed down the staircase and out into the grounds towards the lake. She sat down and started to pull out some potions homework that was due in next week.

Remus ran down the staircase and out into the grounds slowing only as he reached the lake. He hated having to lie to James. But he had to. James had seen her first and as the unwritten law of dating and best friends went, he wasn't allowed to love Lily.

As he neared the lake he caught sight of Lily sitting there. He groaned out loud.

Lily heard a sound behind her and turned to see Remus.

"Oh," she said, "It's you." Remus gulped as her emerald green eyes met his, "Where's James and Sirius? Didn't think you ever left each other, not now you're the 'Marauderers'.

"Where did you here that?"

"Let's just say that Sirius has a rather large mouth."

"That is my best friend you're talking about." Remus said sitting down next to her.

"Yes but I think I've just about had enough of you and you're best friends. Especially Sirius, he is getting so arrogant."

"Oh," he said slightly ashamed, "I forgot about the detentions, we didn't mean for that to happen by the way."

She looked at him suspiciously, "Was that an apology?"

"Well almost." He laughed and she laughed too. How he loved her laugh. It made him forget everything else. It was just him and her and that was all that mattered.

"Lily," he started, "Are you…" but he was interrupted by James.

"There you are Remus! You were gone a long time for just a breath of fresh air. Sirius is looking for you in the castle" then he spotted Lily, his grin turned into a frown and he looked directly at him, "You could have just gone to the balcony you know."

Lily, unaware of the sudden tension, grinned up at James, "Hello to you too James. You seem to have forgotten your manners. Not that that's much of a surprise."

James was still glaring at Remus, who couldn't bare the distrust and accusation in James's eyes any longer and averted his eyes to the ground as he got up and quickly yet silently headed back towards the castle.

"So Lily," James returned his attention to her,"You doing anything tonight?"

"Why? Because this sounds suspiciously like you're trying to ask me on a date!"

"Well I wouldn't put it quite like that but I was wondering if you'd join me tonight for dinner?"

Lily laughed, that sweet laugh that made James heart flutter. "You are full of surprises Mr Potter."

"Is that a yes then?"

"I suppose. Yes."

"Tonight then Miss Evans." With a wink and a twirl James made his way back to the castle, all thoughts of Remus forgotten. Lily was left sitting by the lake with a smile on her face as she watched James skip across the grounds.


	2. Fighting the feeling

Authors note: The italics are Remus's thoughts by the way.

Love's Unwritten laws

Chapter 2: Fighting the feeling

Remus hid in his dormitory hoping that James wouldn't enter. (This was a pretty stupid hope though seeing as it was James dormitory too) He knew that James had guessed that he fancied her. _Infact, James probably thought that he'd gone out to meet her especially._

Sirius entered the dormitory. "There you are, James and I have been looking all over for you. Hey, come to think of it, where is he. You didn't bump into him by any chance?" Remus nodded, "Where is he now then? I would have thought that he would have come back here."

Remus's stomach did a flip as he thought of James and Lily together. _Don't be stupid_, he told himself, _you said that you would let James be with her._

_But I don't think he loves her as much as I do._

_Remember the unwritten rule._

_Yes, but, James can have any girl he wants, why does he have to have the one that I want?_

"Listen, Padfoot, I don't feel to well. I'm going to the bathroom."

Before Remus even got half way across the room James burst through the door. "Yes!" He cried out, apparently forgetting all about the incident with Remus, "She likes me; she's joining me for dinner! God, she's joining me for dinner, shit, I'd better get ready. "He made a move for the bathroom however he was over taken by Remus who dived for the toilet and immediately retched into the bowl.

"Nice" Sirius commented.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Remus lay in bed wondering if he was actually sick or if…

_Love sick's the word_

_Shut up, who asked you to stick your nose in?_

_No one but seeing as I'm a part of you I thought I could comment whenever I fancied._

_Well, you can't, especially about matters that don't concern you._

_Oh, but it does, you see we both know that the only reason you were sick is because you were thinking…_

_Oh be quiet before someone calls us schizophrenic. _

Remus had luckily managed to avoid dinner and stayed in bed for the evening with permission from his head of house. James however was in the Great Hall eating diner, talking to Lily, asking her out…

_Don't think about it, you're only making it worse._

He turned over in his bed as a tear escaped from his eye. _It was so unfair. James was his best friend, his first friend. Lily was his only love. Why couldn't he have both? Why? It was so unfair. Why? It was so unfair_ he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Meanwhile, at diner, James and Lily were getting along fine. Apart from the occasional rude comment from Sirius (and the wolf whistles and the floating love heart spells (which stopped shortly after Lily kicked him in the crotch)) they had a fairly good time.

They had agreed to meet up the following morning seeing as they both had second lesson off. Things were definitely looking up for James and apparently the whole mishap-in-potions-resulting-in-detentions had been forgotten – at least for the moment.

Lily was surprised that it was even possible to get along with James Potter and maybe even to, was it possible, like him as more than just a friend?

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Over the next week Remus managed to avoid James and Lily as much as possible for fear that they would work out that he loved his best friend's girlfriend (Yes, they were now dating).

Remus was packing his things away slowly after their charms class so as to not have to walk to Transfiguration with James and Lily. Once everyone had left the classroom he picked up his bag and made his way to the door.

Weaving his way through the desks he heard a voices carrying from outside in the corridor, bouncing off of the stone walls.

"Oh, wait James. I've left my Transfiguration textbook in Charms. It must have slipped out of my bag!" Remus stopped still to listen to their conversation.

"Oh no! Distaster!" James cried mockingly, "Well then my dear we shall have to go back and fetch it." Remus looked down and saw the text book lying on the floor two desks away. Bending down, he reached under the desks and picked it up.

"Don't be such an Idiot James!" Lily laughed as a loud clunk that sounded like a falling suit of armour could be heard.

"Oh, you hurt me, Miss Evans! But I know you love me really!"

"Oh yes, because you're such a romantic. You know I haven't received one bunch of flowers since we've been dating!"

"Well it's no fun now because you know who your secret admirer is!"

Remus felt himself starting to tremble with anger and he lost all his self-control. _James was lying to her. How dare he. He wasn't the one who sent her the flowers. That was me._

Lily and James entered, James's arm around her shoulders.

"No she doesn't." They both looked at him.

"What?" Lily asked.

"You don't know who your secret admirer is." Lily glanced uncertainly at James.

"Remus," he said warningly, "What are you talking about. We all know I'm Lily's admirer"

"Why are you lying to her James?"

"What does he mean James?" Lily said her hand on James's arm. James stepped in front of her.

"You should watch what your saying mate." He said to Remus in a slightly threatening manner as he stepped forward, shaking off Lily's arm.

"Yeah, or what?" Their faces were now close to each other.

"Don't make me do this Remus." He said regaining a calmer attitude, "Moony." He whispered. Remus's facial expressions softened immediately. Lifting up Lily's book he handed it to James.

James put his arm around Lily once more and led her firmly out of the room. By her face she seemed totally confused by what had just happened and really wasn't sure if she wanted James's arm around her anymore but seemed incapable to do anything else at that moment in time.

Remus sunk to the floor as they left. _What was he thinking? James was his best friend, he could never do that to him. _Then he started to sob quietly at first, then louder as if no one could ever comfort him.

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Thanks to my beta RavenCalling !

Please review guys. It takes not even a minute of your time and gives me a very big grin (even when you've pointed out something negative, hey, at least you read it!)


	3. Tears in the dark

Love's Unwritten Law

Chapter 3: Tears in the dark

When had Remus started loving Lily? For love is a big thing, it doesn't occur over night. The truth is; I don't think he knows quite. Maybe the first time they met. Maybe when James told him and Sirius that he liked Lily. Remus just wasn't sure. It was his first ever crush on a girl. That was supposed to be something magical, wasn't it?

Whatever his feelings for Lily were it didn't mean anything. He should keep them secret. But they had come out hadn't they? Now James was ignoring him. It was as if Remus didn't exist. He had lost his best friend.

Not just one either, two. Sirius had gone off with James. Sirius obviously thought he was doing the right thing by standing by James but he did give Remus small smiles when he passed him.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

It was the last Quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. James was playing seeker, his broom hovering in the air ready for the whistle to start the match. All around the audience was cheering noisily for their team. Waving banners high above their heads.

The whistle blew, a piercing shriek that sent the players scattering off in all directions. Ravenclaw was in possession of the quaffle, now Gryffindor, intercepted by Ravenclaw and quickly shot through the middle hoop past the Gryffindor keeper.

James was scouting the sky for a small, gold ball with wings, the snitch. He flew round the pitch slowly turning his head for the smallest flash of gold.

The score was 60 45 to Ravenclaw. They had definitely improved their game this year. Suddenly the Ravenclaw seeker had launched forwards as if she had spotted a snitch. Wait. She had spotted the snitch. James lurched forwards on his broom. His body flat against the handle. Faster he went, faster, soon there were only a few metres between him and the Ravenclaw seeker.

James could see the snitch, it was about to be grabbed by the Ravenclaw's hand. James wasn't going to get there fast enough.

"You and Jackson Jones seemed to be getting on well last night." It was a lucky guess and a dreadful thing to say but it worked. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"What! How did you…" But the rest was lost in the screams of the crowd as the commentator announced that 'Potter' had caught the snitch.

The girl had a stormy look on her face but James didn't need to worry about that because a crowd a Gryffindors burst out onto the pitch and gathered round the players, who by now had dismounted their brooms. Lily ran up to James and threw her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms round her back and placed his lips on hers as they embraced, not caring that they were in the middle of a crowd of people.

"Get a room!" Sirius yelled at the couple. They pulled apart looking a little sheepish but Sirius just grinned at them.

Unbeknown to them, still sat in the stands, a boy watched theme with ever growing jealousy. Remus saw the crowd around James, all patting him on the back, all looking at him with admiration. Then she went up to him and they kissed as if they hadn't a care in the world.

They didn't notice he wasn't there. No one came to see where he had gone. He just slinked off back into the castle and no one knew the difference. No one even cared.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Later on, Lily, James and Sirius made their way to their Potions lesson. Lily and James sat next to each other, holding hands under the desk. Sirius went over to the other side of the classroom to give them some space. He sat next to a group of pretty Hufflepuff girls. He gave them a flirty smile and a wink as he swung his bag onto the desk and sat down.

Casting a glance around the classroom he wondered why Remus wasn't there. But he gave it no further thought as Professor Slughorn entered the room.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Remus, his head messed up, crawled through a hole in the roots of an old tree and made his way through a dark tunnel. Its dirty walls rubbing muck off onto his jacket.

"Lumos" he whispered, though why he bothered no one could hear him this far underground. A soft light glowed from the end of his wand, illuminating the walls of the tunnel.

For two hours he walked down the tunnel. His thoughts were on lily and James. Lily and her beautiful auburn hair. James his mischievous best friend. Now they were together, he was suddenly out off the picture. He supposed it was his fault for fancying his best friend's girl. But what can a guy do? He can't turn off his feelings like a light switch.

Eventually the tunnel popped up in the middle of a rundown looking house. The Shrieking Shack. The Marauders hung out there once a month to deal with Remus's 'problem'. He would be all alone here next Sunday. Sirius and James wouldn't be coming with him. Not even Pettigrew, that annoying little boy who followed them round everywhere. Although he hadn't been doing that recently.

Remus sat on the floor there until the sun went down and the moon came up (not a full moon, don't worry).The students would be in bed now. Was anyone worried that he wasn't there?

…………………………………………………………………………………………

The next morning James found Lily at breakfast and hurdled over the table towards her (earning him stern looks from the teachers. He grabbed Lily's hand.

"What?" she cried as James pulled her up, "I haven't finished breakfast yet!"

"Never mind that." He pulled her along after him. After having ran up three flights of stairs and bumped into five students on their way they arrived on a balcony.

"What's so special about this place?" Lily asked wondering why James had pulled her away from breakfast in such a hurry.

He looked down at her green eyes and pulled her closer to him. His arms were wrapped around her like a blanket, her hands lay on his chest. Their heads moved closer to each other, their lips touched, and they kissed.

They had kissed before of course but there was something special about this kiss. The way that James was holding her so tight it seemed that he would never let go and the fact that Lily had virtually collapsed in his arms.

They pulled away after some time and lay silent in each others arms.

"Will you come with me to the dance?" James asked her gently, his lips brushing past her ear.

"Yes" lily answered and started to kiss him again.

Sorry nothing much happened in that chapter guys and it took me ages to write. Next chapter will be interesting I promise as I plan to finish the story then, I'm getting bored with it.


	4. It was then he realised

Love's Unwritten Law

Chapter 4 – It was then he realised

James was sitting in a moth eaten chair in front of the fire in the Common room.

"Where is she?" he muttered to himself looking at the clock "If she's not careful it'll start without her!"

At that moment Lily appeared on the stairs. She stopped as James looked up at her lost for words. She was wearing a strapless dress of midnight silk that sparkled in the light. Around her shoulders was draped a semi-see-through shawl of the same colour. Her hair was pulled up away from her face in a mass of red brown curls. She looked beautiful and James knew it.

"Wow." He said. Lily smiled at him, "You look amazing." He offered a hand towards her, "Shall I escort you to the hall now?"

"You may." She replied with a small giggle. She walked towards him and they linked arms. James stroked her hand gently as it lay on his arm and they made their way to the hall.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

It was full of people, you could hardly breathe for the mass of bodies but at least everybody was smiling and enjoying themselves. Everyone that was, apart from Remus. Remus was standing on his own in the corner, glaring at nobody in particular. He was very annoyed with himself that he was on his own without any friends and definitely without a date.

Slowly Remus was coming to terms with the fact that he could never, and would never be with Lily. That didn't make it any easier to cope with though. He still loved her no matter what.

The band was striking up a slow, romantic number. James grabbed Lily's hand and twirled her round towards him. One had holding hers and one hand and the other round her waist, her other hand round his neck. They swayed slowly to the music, getting closer to each other as it went on. Lily looked up into James's eyes, then she closed hers and he bent down to kiss her. It was a sweet kiss, one that screamed 'I love you', without saying 'I want you'.

The song ended leaving the couple grinning at each other. They walked over to a bench at the side of the hall and Lily sat down.

"Don't know about you but I'm thirsty, can I get you a drink?" James asked.

"Yeah, just water thanks." James wondered off to the other side of the room where there was a small makeshift bar selling non-alcoholic drinks.

As Lily sat quietly on the bench, a cold breeze was coming in from the door, which was open to let in some fresh air. She pulled her shawl around her shoulders a little more tightly.

A little way away Remus watched her sitting there, he stepped out of the shadows and watched as the light of the newly-risen full-moon was reflected from her dress.

Suddenly he let out a small yelp as a muscle twitched violently in his shoulder. He put his hand to it, quickly remembering the symptoms and remembering that he hadn't taken the potion. Again, the pain occurred in the other shoulder causing him to cry out in pain again.

The eyes of people around him were drawn to the strange sight of the teenager gasping in pain for apparently no reason. Seeing his only option Remus darted out of the door and into the grounds, heading for the forest.

"Remus?" Lily called after him, worried about him even though James had told her to stay away from him. She got up and hurried after him thinking that he was sick or something.

"Remus, are you okay?" she asked in concerned tones as he stopped in pain, hunched over clutching his back.

"No," he moaned, "Not Lily."

………………………………………………………………………………………..

Meanwhile, back in the hall James had returned with the drinks to find that Lily wasn't there.

"Excuse me have you seen Lily Evans?" he asked a Hufflepuff guy who was standing next to him.

"Sorry mate, don't know her." He said and turned back to his friends. James looked around him wondering if she had just gone to the toilet or something.

"'Scuse me, couldn't help over hearing, did you say Lily Evans?" a small Gryffindor girl asked.

"Yeah." James replied.

"She's gone and run after that Lupin." James looked shocked, "He looked like he was in pain or something and ran out side." The girl continued, James made towards the door, "Good luck finding them, you're lucky it's a full moon, lots of light."

James's face drained of colour as realisation of what was happening hit him.

"Padfoot!" he yelled out. Sirius appeared as if by magic at his arm.

"Yes, James." He said a cocky grin on his face, "You know there's a really pretty girl…"

"Sirius, it's full moon. Moony's out there, he forgot to take the potion. Lily's there too."

Sirius gulped, his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "God," he whispered quietly as he realised the danger of the situation. The grin was gone from his face, replaced by a grim look. "We gotta stop him, quickly." He added as he saw that James was rooted to the spot.

They ran full pelt out of the doors.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Remus sunk to the ground as his legs buckled underneath him with the transformation of his muscles. His arms were longer now, his legs too and hair was starting to appear everywhere.

"Lily, get out of here." He managed to growl though gritted teeth.

"Don't be silly Remus, you're not well." Remus made another attempt to crawl towards the forbidden forest but only managed a few more metres before he sunk to the ground once more.

His face was changing shape. His teeth were bigger, sharper and his nose longer. Hair covered every inch of his body. There was the sound of ripping buttons and materials as his whole body grew larger and the dress robes he was wearing no longer fitted him.

Rearing up on his back legs he let out a completely unhuman sound and howled long and loud at the moons face. Lily was frozen to the spot. She didn't know what to do. She hadn't realised what had been happening to Remus. She hadn't known he was a Werewolf.

As James and Sirius run towards across the grounds they hear a scream cutting through the air like ice. James whimpers because he's so scared for Lily. As Sirius runs he begins to change shape into a huge black dog. He doesn't expect James to do the same and turn into a Stag.

They come closer to the forbidden forest in time to see Remus rearing up over a cowering Lily, his claws stretched out ready to strike. Before he can Sirius leaps on him, throwing him to the ground. Remus snarls and tried to bite Sirius hard on the shoulder. Sirius stopped him by placing a paw over the wolfish face.

Behind them James pulls Lily up,

"Lil, you need to run back to the castle, tell Slughorn to get his potion for Remus quickly!" lily nodded and ran back to the castle faster than she would ever have thought it was possible.

Remus howled as Sirius's paw pressed down on his throat. Using one sharp claw he ripped through the skin on Sirius's chest. This caused Sirius to loose focus for second, giving Remus the chance to push him off him and leap for James.

But James already had his wand drawn and shot a spell through the air, knocking Remus backwards. This gave Sirius another chance to try and pin Remus down again. This time he wasn't quite so accurate and Remus struggled and managed to get on top of Sirius instead. The werewolf raised one paw and brought it smashing down onto Sirius's face. Blood spurted up and Sirius roared with pain.

James fired at Remus again this time sending him flying down a small cliff. Stupidly thinking that Remus wasn't going to be able to get back up, he rushed over to Sirius's side to check that his friend was still alive.

With a tremendous howl Remus leapt up the cliff in one bound and ran at James, knocking him over. James raised his wand. Where were the teachers he thought, surely they should be here by now. He didn't think that he could stop Remus now that Sirius was down. He didn't want to think of what he might have to do to stop Remus.

A spell hit Remus squarely in his chest but it didn't come from James's wand, it came from Professor Slughorn's. Whilst Remus was temporarily stunned, Slughorn sent chains from his wand and wrapped them round Remus, binding him tightly so that he wouldn't be able to move when he came round.

Carefully approaching the Werewolf he drew a tiny bottle from his jacket and poured the contents into its thankfully open mouth. Within the minute Remus had returned to his normal state and was waking up again. So was Sirius.

"Black, can you change back?" the dog nodded and changed back into his normal self, apart from the fact that his chest and head were bleeding. His nose was most definitely broken; in fact he was lucky that shards of it hadn't pierced his brain. "Get this lad to the hospital wing Potter." James took hold of Sirius's arm and pulled him to his feet taking most of the other boy's weight. Hobbling past Lily (who had returned to the scene with Professor Slughorn) he gave her a weak smile. Lily was obviously still in shock at discovering that her boyfriend's best friend was a Werewolf and didn't manage to return the smile.

Remus was awake now and was very aware of the fact that he was lying naked on the forest floor wrapped in chains, in front of his teacher.

"Did I…" he tried to ask.

"No, you gave Black a bit of a beating; he's in the hospital wing now. You also gave Potter and Evans a bit of a fright too." Remus suddenly noticed Lily standing there and he let out a strangled sort of sound. If this was because he was lying there naked or because he had tried to kill her I'm not too sure. Lily looked at him as if he was in a freak show of some kind.

With a wave of his wand Slughorn took off the chains holding Remus down and quickly wrapped his cloak around the boy's shivering shoulders. "Evans, please can you escort this young man back to the castle, I have to go to the head." With that Slughorn disappeared off towards the castle.

There was an awkward silence between Lily and Remus. Remus was the one to talk first. "I'm sorry for, umm, I didn't mean to, I can't help it, I'm really sorry."

"You're a Werewolf." She stated, the words making him wince, "God, you tried to kill me," each word was like a stab to Remus's heart,"How do they even let you run around the school, if you could kill a student at any time. I'm going to…" she stopped suddenly. "I'm sorry, I know it's not your fault it's just…"

Remus shook his head, "It's okay. I can go back by myself, you go back, James will be worried about you." He looked down at the ground as Lily ran back towards the castle, her hand clasped over her mouth.

Tears came flowing in Remus's eyes then. _She is right_. _I am_ _dangerous. I could kill people without even realise it. I don't think she will ever love me now._

It was then that he realised that no one could ever love him knowing who and what he was.

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End file.
